“This one's tricky. You have to use imaginary numbers, like eleventeen ...” – These are the words of the very famous Calvin who in my memory never excelled in school and seldom made it to a class ovation. But unlike me when-I-was-six, he had the vocabulary even an average adult wouldn’t. As a kid, Calvin was my hero. While I sat trying to finish my home-work and get past those “sumptuous” dinners, Calvin protested against everything I would’ve wanted to and he even had his way. So dear Calvin, since you taught me the complexity of imagination, I hereby use it on you. You cannot eternally sit pretty at six. The party’s over J
So, what did Calvin grow up to be…
If I had to logically think Calvin’s way up, here’s what I see - A physicist in his laboratory, working laboriously, to say the least. Calvin - The prober always at work, who never makes it on time to any dinners or luncheons because he’s busy cathode-ing and anode-ing the electromagnetic waves that gave him nightmares as a child. Infact, Susie Derkins - his love and hate interest as a kid, did try to mend ways with him. But Calvin decided to give more weightage to the elementary particles of physics and thereby created an electroweak interaction. On the night of their engagement Calvin didn’t make it to the celebration on time causing Susie “social embarrassment”. He never apologised. Instead he began to develop a mathematical model on a word he’d never heard in his imaginary world before - “social”. Calvin lives, breathes and experiments, much to turn himself in to one.
And I as I say this, I wince at my imagination. Maybe its time to put an end to Calvin’s logical progression. Let’s think a little unpredictable.
So what did Calvin really grow up to be…
After finishing college with very non flattering grades, Calvin realized he belonged to no more disciplined schooling and studying further would only make his report card colourful, in a red sort of way. Calvin’s father got him a dead-end job at the suitcase factory. Today Calvin checks on the handles in the assembly line there. He makes no mistakes. Life goes on and so does the assembly line.
Just my imagination!
With all these probable chart-outs to Calvin’s life, I’ve realised, may be there is a bit of me that’s still envious of Calvin being the “Calvin” he was. I also seemed to have conveniently omitted Hobbes from the plot. I’d like to believe once Calvin grew up, his complex imagination found a sack. As a kid he was my hero, where his heroism was beyond my control. Today when I got the joystick to his life, I turned him in to a ME. I turned him in to an average adult, who’s stuck in an unfriendly rigmarole called life.
Hey Calvin, stay six.
3 comments:
Thought experiment? I'll play.
You seem to have created two versions of Calvin. First - A Robin Williams' professor-esque character from Flubber, and second - his diametrically opposite counterpart - a dimwit, who barely manages to get past his day-job as he derives no pleasure from it, dare I say, a Homer Simpson caricature?
Although we are free to imagine, most of the times we imagine things which lie at the far end of the spectrum. In this case - Calvin is either socially inept genius, or he's an also-ran. Why can't he be a little realistic? Someone who enjoys his work, has a few friends, and takes pleasure in his adult-relationship (may be with Susie Derkins?). At least that is how I imagine Calvin growing up.
My way of thinking is far less dramatic, and I would like to think it is a bit more realistic. Reason? If we refer to intelligence(IQ) distribution curve and think of it as a bell-curve, geniuses and absolute dimwits lie at the two opposite ends of the curve. And by the virtue of the curve, majority lie somewhere in-between - neither too good for the world, nor a social disgrace.
Calvin, to my understanding, was never meant to be a cartoon for children. If my memory serves correct Bill Watterson named Calvin after a reformative theologian, and Hobbes after political philosopher. That explains Calvin's behaviour and his absolute apathy towards anything that most everyone wouldn't even stop to think about, but do it anyway out of habit. And Hobbes' intellectual acuity about grown-ups' behaviour, and the world in general. And if you ask real children they will tell you that they prefer Garfield and its simplistic storyline over much convoluted (for children, at least) C & H.
Finally, I would still let Calvin be a six-year-old for reasons better explained by following picture - http://i.imgur.com/YTof5.jpg
- m0usep0t4t0.
Or he could have been like Govinda in Raja Babu... " Main sab kuch banna chahta tha Doctor, lawyer, Police Inspector"...
On a serious note, this characterization of adult calvin in monotonous jobs, surprises me... Its a new Stereotype, this thing about the smart ones back in school now leading mundane existences while the really weird, timid guys now being RJs/actors/famous CEOs...
Id put my money on Calvin growing up to be like Norman Bates in psycho.. :)
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